HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



93 



po^v^er. on Roman catholics, and 

 withhold it from other sectaries, 

 whose motives of action were less 

 objectionable, he considered as a 

 degree of preference ^Ahich ougiit 

 not to be admitted. It could not 

 be sujjposjd that the Uoman catho- 

 lics, if possessed of political power, 

 would not seek an exemption from 

 contributing to the support of the 

 protestant clergy, a church estab- 

 lishment for their own, equally 

 8pletidid and independent as that 

 of the protestants, and a recognition 

 of the laws of the Roman catholic 

 church, and of the competence of 

 the authority of their courts. Thus 

 tythes must be annihilated, or di- 

 vided between the protestant clergy, 

 and the supremacy of the pope be 

 again established. Most of the pro- 

 testant titles in Ireland w ould de- 

 rive from forfeited estates, and as 

 the Roman catholics still kept up 

 their claim to them, as belonging to 

 their families, it must be dangerous 

 to trust them with such power as 

 might eventually enable them to en- 

 force such claims. lie should there- 

 fore oppose the motion. 



Lord Hutchinson, in a very elo- 

 quent and able speech, supported 

 the prayer of the petition, and was 

 followed, on the same side, by the 

 earl of Ormond, who represented 

 the speech of lord Redesdale as 

 made up of fantastic fiars and old 

 women's stories. 



Lord Boringdon thought, that, a.t 

 ! lit opportunity, those claims must 

 be granted, u[)on an amicable set- 

 tlement of existing dillerences, but, 

 at the present moment, ho thought 

 them premature. 



The Archbishop of Canterbury 

 thought the principle, upon which the 

 petition rested, was not snich as their 

 iordthips could admit ; he therefore 



felt himself called upon to resist the 

 motion. 



The Karl of Albemarle lamented 

 that the mind of a learned and noble 

 lord, (Redesdale,) was not elevated 

 above the vulgar prejudice and idle 

 tales which seemed to fill it upon 

 the present occasion. The solemn 

 declaration of the universities of 

 the Sorbonne, Louvain, Doway, 

 Alcala, Valladolid, and Salamanca, 

 disavowed and abjured the imputa- 

 tion upon the catholics, that it was 

 a fundamental article of their creed 

 that no faith was to be kept with 

 heretics, or that the pope could ab- 

 solve them from their allegiance to a 

 protestant king : and as he did not 

 feel that there could be any danger 

 to the protestant establishment, 

 from granting the prayer of the pe- 

 tition, he should give his vote in 

 favour of the motion. 



The Lord Chancellor, the earl of 

 Westmorland, the bishop of St. 

 Asaph, lord Ellcnborough, lord 

 Auckland, and lord Bolton, spoke in 

 opposition to the motion, which was 

 defended by the duke of Norfolk, 

 the earl of Dirnlcy, and lord King, 

 and, after a long and able reply 

 by lord Grenville, at six o'clock in 

 themorning,the house divided, — for 

 the motion, 49, — against it, 178, — 

 majority, 129. 



On the same day, a conference 

 was held between the houses of 

 lords and commons, in which it was 

 permitted lord Harrowby and lord 

 Melville (at his own request,) to 

 attend the committee of the lower 

 house, upon the subject of the tenth 

 naval report. After which the or- 

 der of the day was read, for taking 

 into consideration the petition of 

 the Roman catholics of Ireland. 



Mr. Fox then rose, and stated, 

 that he felt great pleasure in stand. 



